Portsmouth Royal Dockyard School

Upper School Badges & Motto

Lines from poem by Richard Monckton Milnes (1809-1885)

If what shone afar so grand
Turn to nothing in the hand
On again! The virtue lies
In the struggle, not the prize.

The 4^th Year Upper School students wore a small circular lapel badge of concentric red, white and blue rings with a Roman IV in the centre. They also wore a distinctive tie that was later adopted by the Portsmouth Royal Dockyard Historical Trust Support Group; go to Links on the Home page.

In 1952, the title of the Royal Dockyard School was changed to the Royal Dockyard Technical College and John Goss became the first Principal. This decision ended the history of the Royal Dockyard School that had existed for over a 100 years. However, as the 1951 entry apprentices started in the Royal Dockyard School they were permitted to retain that distinction until the 4^th Year with their 1954-55 blazer badges.

For at least a generation, naval historians have argued that throughout the Napoleonic Wars British ships were inferior to the French. Well, French ships were certainly made according to the most modern scientific principles, and were designed and built by elegantly named maitres constructors. But the result was often a drawing board triumph and a seaborne horror: between 1793 and 1815 the French lost one major vessel every month to war and weather.

British vessels, on the other hand, were made by 'mere' shipwrights, who belonged to the rising class of self-made technologists that was changing the face of Britain. They were sound, practical men who weren't carried away by dazzling, abstract theory - as the French so often were - but who welcomed sensible innovation.